The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.
--- Winston Churchill

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Lazy Week

For some reason, I'm having a hard time getting things done lately. I feel like I've become a potted plant. Hopefully, it's a temporary thing because we have a lot to do in the next few weeks.

I checked our weather to see if there was any break in the heat or humidity (nope) and thought I should probably see what the weather is like where we are (maybe) planning to move to in Florida. As expected, the high temps for the next ten days are warmer than here (mid-90's instead of mid-80's) and humid. No surprise there. What I didn't expect was the thunderstorms predicted for every single day. I know it rains a lot in Florida, but that's nuts. We're going to need Dr. Megavolt suits:

In family news, for anyone who hasn't heard, Debbie's Aunt Mary fell yesterday and fractured her hip. She is in St. Mary's and is supposed to be going into surgery later today. You can send her an e-card through the St. Mary's web site, or if you want to do things the old fashioned way via phone or the paleolithic way via snail mail, contact us for how to do that. The family hasn't mentioned this yet, but it would probably be best to keep phone calls to a minimum for now.

I bumped into an interesting series of articles about something called the Anosognosic’s Dilemma. In short, it is the problem of "unknown unknowns." This is very closely related to Taleb's Black Swans; information that is not merely unknown, but unknowable because we don't know that we don't know it. It is a five-part series with Part One, Two and Three already posted. Probably important stuff in there that relates to many of the problems we currently face as individuals and as nations. [Updated later to add link to Part Four.] [Updated the update to add link to Part Five.]

More proof that we are over-lawyered: Pork board lawyers issue a cease-and-desist letter to the authors of a joke ad for canned unicorn meat because they referred to it as "the new white meat." Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.

The Obamessiah has his infinite authority over every aspect of American life clipped by a federal judge. Note the resentment from Obama's inner circle:

"We see clear evidence every day, as oil spills from BP’s well, of the need for a pause on deepwater drilling,” Salazar said. “Based on this ever-growing evidence, I will issue a new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities."

Yes, yes. I'm certain that you think everything to be within your "authorities" including the butchering of the English language. I guess Obama better haul ass down to Louisiana to put his feet on Judge Feldman's throat.

Cracked.com continues to prove itself to be a source of wisdom in these troubled times with The Ten Most Important Things They Didn't Teach You In School. I'd like to add Number 11: the proper way to capitalize a title. But that's a quibble; if you have recently graduated high school, you need to read this.

State Sen. "Jakie" Knotts, who became infamous this month for referring to Haley as a "raghead," asked this question in a local television interview: "Have you ever asked her if she believes in Jesus Christ as her lord and savior, and that he died on the cross for her sins? Have you ever asked her that?"